A Change in Time
by baked.pogaytos
Summary: Allura is dead, the lions are gone and its been three months since the war ended. Everyone is back on the Atlas for a catch-up when someone arrives that leaves everyone shaken. oblivious and future klance, time travel and whatever spew comes out of my mouth writing this at 4am on a Friday night cause I have nothing else better to do. I will update on Saturdays hopefully!
1. Chapter 1

Characters mentioned:

-Keith (20)

-Lance (21)

-Shiro (30)

-Pidge (17)

-Hunk (20)

-Coran (dunno)

-Kosmo (whatevs)

-Atlas Crew

* * *

Intro and scene setting

It was 3 months after Allura's death. Each of the paladins had gone their separate ways and re-established their lives after Voltron. However, they had all gathered back on the Atlas for a week's stay (as requested by Shiro)

He had told them all that it was to exchange information and progress reports, but everyone knew it was because they missed each other. How couldn't you miss the best friends you spent years in space with? Every one of them felt it, an emptiness that arose as they left each other after that night. But now they were back together on the same ship trading smiles and hugs, greeting the friends they had sorely missed. At this moment in time, the Atlas is still within Earth's solar system.

In the three months they had been apart, Keith had gone back to the blades, establishing it as a humanitarian aid service and Lance had gone back to the family farm, living a simple life once again. Pidge began working alongside her brother and dad back at the Galaxy Garrison; helping it become a hub for interplanetary travel and HQ for the Atlas while Shiro and Coran, along with Hunk, travelled on the Atlas spreading the message of peace across every system they travelled to, bringing aid and reformation as the universe built itself back up after the war.

This is a story of the paladins of Voltron, their lives after the war, their feelings and their future.

Chapter 1 – A ship, A pilot, A question

20:00 – most of the crew had started to go to sleep, the paladins were in their rooms too, sleeping.

Everyone heard it, the loud clatter of metal against metal, the sound of a ship crashing into the Atlas. The booming screech as it tore its way into one of the back rooms. Shiro was first to the site of the sounds, the first one who saw it. A solid black shuttle, smoking out of every location it could, battered and bent and scolding to the touch.

"Stay back" He stood staring at the shuttle. "We don't know who or _what_ is in it, regardless its purpose or why it's crashed into us in the first place"

The other paladins stood there, shocked at the fact that this shuttle had made it through the Atlas' shields and made a sizeable tear in the side of the ship (that repair tech had already started work on – thanks to Pidge's ingenuity) it was Lance who spoke first, breaking the silence of everyone's inaudible surprise.

"H-how did that thing get in here? I mean we have sensors, don't we?"

"I don't know, but it may be unsafe" Shiro answered, analysing readings from a screen he had been handed not too long ago "how about you all go back to bed, the crew and I have this covered"

"Shiro we can hel-" Keith spoke up, albeit groggily

"It's okay Keith, we have it handled here" he retorted, waving a hand towards the ten crew members in the room.

Immediately after Shiro had spoken, clouds of smoke billowed out of the ship as the top of the cockpit opened. The paladins stood on edge, each in fighting stances as Shiro edged towards the opening of the shuttle. Stepping closer and closer as the smoke dispersed and..

"There's a person in there!" Pidge ran towards Shiro and the ship, eyeing the figure slumped in the pilot's seat surrounded by red flashing screens and broken controls. Before anyone could stop her, she was in the seat pulling the pilot out with the help of Shiro. The other paladins piled in lifting the pilot onto a stretcher that one of the crew members had brought.

Hunk spoke up for the first time, fully awake now at the sight in front of him, "Guys, look at her", they all stared.

"It's a _child?_" Lance stood; his head tilted to the side inquisitively

"no, Lance, _look_" They gazed at the girl

"She's-" Lance stuttered

"She's wearing Paladin armour…black paladin armour" Shiro stood next to her.

"But how? Shiro where did she come from? What does this mea-" Keith rambled

"Keith, shut your quiznack for a minute and look" Lance interjected.

The pilot of the shuttle was waking up, coughing through a shattered visor, fresh blood trickling from somewhere on her forehead. She opened her eyes and looked around the room before focusing on Keith's confused expression. She stared for a minute and squeaked through a hoarse voice.

"Dad?" was all she managed before leaning back on to the stretcher and coughing.

"Pidge go with the crew to the pods, help get her set up and then come back and see what you and Hunk can do about this pod" He looked back at the girl's ship, "Keith, Lance and I will get ready, if she crashed into us she may have been running from something. We have to be prepared for anything else coming towards us." The others nodded. Keith and Lance went back towards their rooms as Shiro headed towards the bridge.

* * *

"This is not the way I wanted my night to go" Lanced huffed, stomping down the corridor next to Keith. Keith didn't listen, he was stuck in his own head. _"Dad? What did she mean dad? Maybe I just look like someone else…but why was she in paladin armour? What's going on? Are we in danger? Who was she? Why is she here?"_

"Keith? Buddy? You ok?" Lance waved his hands in front of Keith's face.

"Yeah" he replied. "Do you recognise her?"

"Nope, no idea…wonder where she came from, she looked pretty beat up and her ship was like nothing I've ever seen before"

Both the boys had stern yet concerned looks on there faces as they walked towards their respective rooms.

"Meet you at the med-bay once we get the all clear from Shiro?" Lanced asked, teetering at the door to his room.

"Yeah" Keith walked into his room, shutting the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The Pilot Wakes

20:30 – Pidge and crew members had taken the pilot to the med bay, Shiro was at the bridge running scans.

Shiro had given the all-clear after searching through scanners and discovering nothing unusual. By all accounts the Atlas was safe, and everyone could get back to what they were doing. Lance and Keith started making their way to the med bay, joined now by Shiro who was just as intrigued by the girl as the others were.

Upon their arrival, one of the crew members had informed them that Pidge and Hunk had already made their way back to the shuttle and that most of the other crew members were back in bed, so they had the room to themselves.

"Just call if anything's off or you need anything"

"We will, thank you" Shiro looked to wars the girl, checking her stats on the screens next to her and watching her heartbeat. "She's stable but she inhaled a lot of smoke" His voice was soft.

"Why do you think she's here? And how did she avoid our sensors?" Keith questione

Shiro looked towards the closed door and back towards the boys, Lance was sat in a chair next to the med-pod (it was a new hybrid between earth tech and the Altean pods found on the castle of lions) he was studying the girls face. She had deep black hair that was bound in a high ponytail and a deep gash on her forehead that was now stitched and lined with dried blood. Lance noticed the single, blue Altean marking that sat under her right eye.

"We checked on scanners, nothing was tripped proximity-wise, an alert would have been sent to me otherwise. It was like she appeared out of nowhere and tore right into the ship as she crashed." Shiro saw Keith's brow furrow.

"So it was a wormhole?" Keith asked, looking at the sleeping girl's face as crossed his arms.

"No, we checked for wormholes, ran ever scanner we had. Coran was puzzled too, though we did pick up some weird readings that weren't too different from ones we picked up off ourselves coming out of the time streams"

"Could she be from an alternate reality?" Keith relaxed a bit, though he still had his arms crossed.

"It's entirely possible, we'll just have to wait and see what she can tell us when she wakes up"

After fifteen long minutes of silence between the three of them Keith, Lance and Shiro gathered as the pod opened. The girl sat up, her hair falling from her shoulders and flopping down against her back still tied in its ponytail. She squinted her eyes, looking around at the three people standing around her bedside.

"Whe-where am I?" she saw her armour and Bayard sitting on a table at the foot of the pod she was in, as well as her blade-of-Marmora issued weapon.

"You're in the med-bay of the Atlas, its ok you're safe don't worry" Shiro answered with a soft voice laying a hand on the girl's shoulder. The med crew had removed any armour and weapons from her in order to see the extent of any injuries. She had been left in her own clothes after the conclusion that she only had a minor laceration to her forehead where the shards of her visor had obviously cut into and that she had inhaled a lot of smoke and was going to need oxygen. Other than that, she was fine.

She wore the same black jumpsuit as the other paladins wore under their suits and had a small clear locket around her neck. Inside, Lance could make out a lock of silver hair entwined with blue thread and a small blue crystal shard. She had a yellow ribbon loosely tied around her wrist and a small scar along the side of her forearm.

"So, I made it" she said quietly


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – A surprise origin

20:45 – Shiro, Keith and Lance are in the med-bay with the pilot after trying to find out where she came from.

"Made it? Who are you, and why are you here?" Keith questioned forcefully. The girl backed up a bit, shaken and squinting from the bright lights of the room.

"Keith calm down" Shiro let go of the girl's shoulder and pushed Keith back from the side of the bed.

"It's ok, you must have questions. I can answer them" she looked up at Shiro and Keith. Lance walked towards her bed, ignoring the others.

"Hi, my names Lance, sorry about that one" he motioned with his thumb towards Keith behind him, "He's got a temper" The girl laughed to herself, looking at lance and outstretched her hand.

"My name's Laura, I'm 16 and the paladin of the black lion. Please don't freak out, but I'm from the future." She looked up at the three men standing around her. They all had shocked faces on, especially Lance, who had gripped her hand for a handshake. He released his grip and stood there with his mouth hung open.

"The future? No way, do you know us? How far into the future are you from? Am I good looking in the future?"

"LANCE" Shiro interjected, stopping Lance's bombardment of questions

"Oh, its ok" Laura replied, "Yes I know you, about 20 years from now and depends on what you call good looking, I'm not the best person to ask" she chuckled at Lance's questions.

"Ok Laura, its nice to meet you, I'm Shiro, you said that you already know us so I'll skip the full introduction. Is it okay to ask how you got here and why you're here?" Shiro walked back towards the pod, leaving Keith in the back of the room.

"My ship, it's Pidge's design….it traverses both time and space, though, from what I remember I crashed it so I doubt it will work now" Laura looked down, a tear forming in her eye. She breathed in sharply and began speaking again "I'm here because I need information. See, in my time the Atlas crashed, and all the ships data was lost – including that from the Castle of Lions which means we're totally stumped on information."

"Information about what?" Keith re-joined the conversation, still leaning on the wall at the back of the room.

"About planet eating monsters, that what" Laura looked up, almost angry "When Voltron was first re-formed, all the paladins were brought together because of a similar dream they had, like the lions where calling out to us. In the dream we were informed of the lions, their locations and that something was coming, something dangerous. There was a sense of urgency to it too" she paused, looking at the quizzical faces of the men around her "We only had a year together, training as Voltron before _It_ came. It was a giant creature but nothing like we'd seen before, it blasted _something _out of its mouth, sucking in an entire planet's quintessence in the span of one minute. It didn't even have to come into contact with us to start sucking the quintessence from Voltron too. Luckily, the planet it destroyed was uninhabited and was not surrounded by any other for miles but… the path it's taking...we only have a short time before it reaches Altea. _Home_"

Shiro, Lance and Keith all stood there, stunned.

"I've never heard of anything like that, never mind seeing one. Where did it come from?" Lance sat down next to Laura.

"We don't know, that's why I'm here, Pidge thought sending me back to get information from the Atlas when it has all its data will help us find something about it. That reminds me" she got out of the pod, a little unsteady on her feet. Shiro rushed in and helped her stand up steadily. She walked towards her stuff, fishing a small data drive from the pile of her things. "This is for Pidge, it's from _my Pidge_, you know, the future Pidge. It explains everything we need and luckily also has instructions for rebuilding my ship which will come in handy right about now"

"Great that's perfect, we can go to pidge and Hunk, they're at your ship right now actually" Shiro looked a Laura "Keith, Lance can you get Laura's stuff and put it in the spare room between yours please?" Keith huffed but nodded quickly to Shiro as he gathered up Laura's stuff with Lance. He studied the small throwing knife-esque weapon with the blade of Marmora symbol on it as Shiro and Laura Walked back towards her ship.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Laura's Room

21:00 – Keith and Lance put Laura's stuff if the room in-between theirs as she came back from talking with Pidge.

Laura had retrieved a small bag from the back of her ship while she was in the room with Pidge and Shiro discussing what needed to be done and had brought it back to the room Shiro told her to go to.

Laura stepped into the room Shiro had directed her to and set her bag down on the desk. The room was small but organised. It had two beds at opposite sides of the room and a desk on the centre wall next to a spacious closet. Laura organised her stuff and opened her bag, retrieving a pair of black shorts and an oversized purple top with a familiar old jacket, "_thanks dad" _she said quietly although it was still loud enough for Lance to hear as he entered the room.

"hey, are you settling in okay?" He asked, "I heard from pidge that the repairs on your ship won't be finished for another couple days – I guess you're stuck here huh?"

"Don't worry, its not all bad" Laura replied, she turned around with the jacket in hand "I'm still with my family, even if they are younger and don't know me yet" She laughed to herself, a soft sighing laugh that somehow Lance recognised from somewhere. Even if he couldn't pinpoint where he had heard her laugh before, he could pinpoint where her jacket was from.

"That's my jacket!" He exclaimed, walking further into the room, letting the door slide closed behind him.

"Yep, but an older version of it. You wore it loads when I was little, almost every day in fact" Laura smiled at Lance "Here!" she reached for a phone-like device out of her bag, "I have photos from when I was little that show you still wearing it!" she scrolled through photos on the screen as lance watched gleefully, seeing future him as he got older.

"So this is my future huh?" He pointed at the screen, a view of him smiling, stood in the middle of a field waving at the camera "Who took all these photos?" He asked, all of them were of him or of him and what he assumed was a younger Laura. Pictures of birthdays and Christmases went by, pictures with Rosa and the McClain family too and then one picture came up, Laura paused on it. The caption read '_Laura's 10__th__Birthday_'. Lance stared at the picture, it was him and Keith will a smiling Laura in the centre of them. Keith was smiling, holding the camera at arm's length, hugging Laura close. _So that's who takes the pictures._

"See! Your wearing the jacket in this one" Laura spoke softly but had a small hint of excitement, likely because of a happy memory resurfacing.

"Hey Laura, y-you said you know us in the future, but what _are _we to you? See, you've got pictures with almost everyone here so..."

"You're asking who my parents are, aren't you?" Laura smiled softly, turning the device off, and turning to face Lance. She sat down on the bed. "I thought I made it obvious earlier, I panicked about it too, when travelling in time…exposing things about the future can be risky, especially with relationships…if I did something the alter the relationship of my parents I could never be born see?" Lance nodded, he understood completely "Yeah, anyway I kind of exposed it earlier but, Keith, he's my dad. It really couldn't be more obvious really; we have the same black hair and _incredibly _pale skin. The only thing I got from my mum's side of the family was my eye colour, really" Lance stared into her eyes, they were a muted darker blue. Laura flopped back onto the bed and winced and the gash on her forehead that had suddenly started trickling a little blood again.

"Who is your mum then? C'mon, who does Keith end up with in the future?" Lance wiggled his eyebrows at Laura who started giggling explosively. "What?" Lance laughed along too, chuckling at the fact that he made the teen's face red.

"See, its not that simple" she explained "Nothing in my family ever is, you see, my mum was just a surrogate, but we have a good relationship, don't get me wrong! We still talk and she's a big part of my life too. Growing up with everyone is like one big family, I might not have blood ties to Pidge, Shiro or Hunk but their still my family, you get me? I'm not allowed to tell you guys much about the future, but I can tell you this, Keith does end up with someone… and so do you so don't worry. The future is actually pretty great; apart from the giant planet eating monster; but we're all happy."

"Nice to know, I bet I'm still good looking in the future yeah?" Lance chuckled "Anyway, its late" He got up and started walking towards the door "You should get some sleep, and then you can come hang with us in the morning, though Shiro will probably make us do some meeting-thing talking about what people have been up to and what we've done to help so far, but after that we'll have some fun" He smiled as he shut the door and Laura sat back up on the bed, looking at the jacket now slung over the chair.

_you can't tell them, not yet_

She reached for the bag, pulling out the clothes her dad had packed her, staring at the hidden note folded in between the shirt and shorts.

_Stay safe, get home soon! Remember to be good and don't tell younger us what the future is like – much love, Dad_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – The Nightmare

2:00 – mostly everyone o the Atlas is sleeping, Laura and the paladins are in their room sleeping too.

Laura screamed as Keith rushed into the room, fists up and alert, followed closely but a still half-asleep Lance and Kosmo who stood in the hall.

"Sorry, s-sorry for waking you" Laura clutched the blankets with her head down, her knees were drawn to her chest and she was shaking with tears running down her cheeks.

"What was it?" Keith barked; Laura stayed silent shaking on her bed with tears soaking through her blanket. Lance pushed past him.

"Keith, you _idiot_, she had a nightmare…don't just shout at her like that" He made his way across the room to Laura on her bed and sat down next to her. He put his hands on her shoulders.

"Hey" he said softly, Keith leant against the door as Kosmo wandered in and sat on the floor at the end of the bed "Hey, its ok, it was only a dream. Just breath okay?" Laura looked up at Lance's face.

"Sorry, I'm used to having either Kosmo or Nova at the end of my bed when I sleep, I forgot about the nightmares" She looked at Lance, letting her knees slip down and her body relax, feeling his hands gripping her shoulders.

"Nova?" Lance tipped his head quizzically.

"Nova is my other dog, we have Kosmo of course but he's Dad's, Nova is mine and mine alone. She helps me sleep, I used to have nightmares a lot at home, I guess I forgot about them with everything that went on today"

"I see" Lance let his hands fall from her shoulders and turned to Keith who was standing in the doorway still, watching Kosmo at the foot of the bed. Lance stared at him and motioned towards the shaking girl.

"What?" Keith looked at Lance.

"Keith your kidding, right? She literally called you dad twice, confirmed she's from the future and looks exactly like you. You might not want to, but you could y'know take some responsibility over a crying girl while I go get her a glass of water maybe?" Lance got up and pushed Keith towards the bed as he went to go get a glass from the kitchen. Keith sat on the edge of the bed, occasionally glancing at Laura but mostly staring at Kosmo on the floor.

"Nightmare, huh?"

"Mhm" Laura sniffed some tears back

"I used to get them as a kid too, they were the worst"

"I know" Keith looked at Laura who was now sat up with her head against the wall sitting beside Keith, facing the same way "You told me about them when I first had mine" Keith paused, it was a long silence with only the sound of their breathing filling the room. He breathed in sharply and pondered on what to say.

"Lance said you're my –"

"Daughter...yeah." She sighed quietly and instinctively yawned, leaning further into the bed. "I get it, it's a shock to meet someone from your future. It was a shock to see you to be honest, so young and all…mad" Her eyes were lowering, flicking open and closed. "You don't look as grumpy in my time" Keith could hear the rustling of blankets as Laura moved in the bed. He still sat teetering on the edge and staring at Kosmo who had made himself comfortable on the floor. "You smile more"

"Do I?" Keith scoffed to himself

"Yeah, but it's probably because you're happier" Keith turned to Laura, who now had her eyes closed and was lying under the blanket.

"Happier?" He questioned hearing Laura shuffling further under her blankest and getting settled.

"Yeah, happier with" She paused, drifting in and out of sleep "…Papá…" Keith twisted towards Laura quickly, staring at the now sleeping girl.

_Papá?...Happier with Papá?_

Lance walked back into the room with a glass of water. Keith looked over the him with a finger on his lips, indicating a Lance had to be quiet, and for once in his life he was. Keith got up and walked over to the door, where Lance had already placed the glass down on the desk and walked back to. Both boys turned towards the door and started to walk out. As Lance slid the door shut he spoke softly.

"Night Laura" when he said it, he didn't expect a reply. And if Lance was being honest it was just a reflex reaction from his siblings.

"Night Papá" She said back dreamily, Lance and Keith stood their frozen, eyes wide in terror as they both realised the implications of that name.

Keith rushed back towards his room as Lance did the same, both in a stunned silence as they closed their doors and laid in their respective beds, staring up at their ceilings pondering over that word. One simple word. **_Papá_**. How could one word shake their entire world and make them question everything from the past years together? Was that _their future_?

Keith thought about Laura's words. _Happier, _he seemed _happier_ in the future. _Happier_ with Lance?

Lance thought about his and Laura's conversation from earlier too, _we're all happy. _'You end up with someone too' that meant…he ends up with Keith? He thought back to the picture too, all of them happy and smiling together on Laura's birthday.

Both of them thought that night, about their time together – about Laura, and about how they'd both been blind to their own (and each other's) feelings.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Breakfast

(**sorry for the short chapters, including this incredibly short one, I'm trying to force myself to slowly develop the story rather than having it go by too fast. hopefully some longer chapters will be coming after this one!**)

07:00 – the paladins (and Laura) are woken up for breakfast and go down to eat together with Shiro.

Pidge and Hunk were sat chatting happily with Shiro, mostly about tech stuff. Laura was sat next to Shiro happily listening to whatever the others were saying. Keith and Lance hadn't said a word all morning and had been actively ignoring each other, both of them got barely any sleep after the events of the previous night. Shiro and the others had noticed the tension, it was clear as day. Keith picked at his food, not really eating anything really.

"Something on your mind?" Shiro spoke up, looking directly at Keith as Pidge and Hunk walked away to clear their dishes. Keith glanced towards Lance who was now talking with Laura about the scar along her arm.

"Kinda…can-can we talk somewhere else?" He looked around him, at the people eating breakfast. He could feel everyone's stares as they looked at Laura and him, the same hair and skin, how their faces moved in the same way. Shiro nodded, clearing away his plate and walking with Keith towards an empty room.

* * *

"So your scar?" Lance questioned, pointing at Laura's forearm. She looked up from her plate with a mouth full of toast.

"Oh, yeah" She swallowed "It's from when I was little" she pulled up the rest of her shirt sleeve, exposing the warped line of scarred flesh that ran the outer edge of her arm. "It was an accident" She traced the scar with her other finger and looked at Lance "Dad wanted to make sure I always knew how to protect myself" She smiled as she looked up at Lance "He taught me how to use throwing knives when I was 9. We were throwing some in the woods when I threw one at a tree wrong. It just bounced back the wrong way, that's all. I didn't even feel it really, Dad _freaked_ though" Laura laughed " He was never great with blood, almost puked from the sight of it" Lance was now laughing along with her.

"Wait, Keith's afraid of blood?" Lance's eyes were wide now staring and Laura, who had pulled her sleeve back down and got back to her toast"

"Mhm. Well, he's ok if it's only a little bit, but the amount that came out my arm that day made him panic" Lance nodded, finishing his own breakfast. He didn't notice that Shiro had walked back into the room and was making his way towards the pair.

"Hey Lance, I'm going to take Laura to Pidge and her ship…see what still needs to be done."

"Yeah, that's fine, I was actually going to go to the gym for a bit" He said as he got up and grabbed his and Laura's empty plates. He wiped the crumbs off the table onto the stack he was holding and turned to walk away.

"Actually can you go to room 73?" Shiro looked at Lance with a face he knew all to well, meaning he _had_ to go to that room. Lance looked at Shiro with a pleading look, his shoulders drooped, and his head rolled back like a whining child.

"Ugh…Fine…" He moaned "Hey Laura" Laura turned to face Lance "See you in a bit" He said, holding up his hand for a high five. Laura hit the hand with a satisfying slap and walked away with Shiro, leaving Lance on his own.

"Right, room 73…"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – Room 73

**_(This is where the klance comes in but it's only a tiny bit…don't worry though it'll get better! Also, apologies for my crappy writing, I'm currently ill and recovering from the Christmas overhaul so -whoops- I chose a bad time to have sudden fic inspiration lol. This chapter I also tried to let Laura interact with some other paladins, talking about a bit of her life and explaining some of her character more. :3 )_**

07:45 – Laura, Pidge, Shiro and Hunk are at Laura's ship which had been moved to the hanger with the other ships. Lance is going towards room 73, only Shiro knows where Keith is.

"Of course _you're_ in here." Lance saw Keith sat leaning against the table, arms folded and head down "Look Keith, I've got stuff to be doing" he turned towards the door and reached for the handle.

"Wait" Keith let his arms drop, his shoulders relaxed and he picked himself up off the table. He stood in front of Lance, still staring at the floor, his mouth moving _trying_ to figure out the words to say. "About last night, what _she_ said"

"Mhm" Lance darted his eyes around the room, avoiding eye contact as Keith lifted his head and looked straight at Lance.

"Look, I know you heard what she said and what that implies about the future and…about -us-" Keith stood there. Lance said nothing, fiddling with his thumbs "Lance- there's no point in lying to ourselves at this point. I mean there's a 16-year-old girl out there that looks like me and called _you_ 'Papá'. She's practically exposed our feelings for each other already and when we talked, she said some stuff that really hit home-"

"I know" Lance looked up for the first time since he entered the room, "I-I saw pictures…of us and her; she showed me some when we talked yesterday. She talked a lot about us being…uh, being..."

"Happy..." Keith finished Lance's sentence.

"Yeah…" Lanced sighed, talking now was lifting the blanket of awkwardness from the previous night a little "So, what do we do know? Y'know….cause I do like you Keith, but I never knew if you liked me back..."

"Seriously?" Keith laughed and Lance instantly softened his worried expression seeing Keith smile freely. "Why do you think I got so worked up over our 'bonding moment'? It literally screamed that I liked you…I-I thought I was being obvious"

"Guess we were both oblivious, huh?" Lance looked up, meeting Keith's eyes and losing himself into the pools of violet that seemed to never end. He smiled. "You wanna go play some video games? I'm bored honestly"

"I thought you had 'stuff to be doing'?" Keith teased.

"We both know that was a lame attempt at getting out of here" Lance replied, walking towards the door and turning into the hall. "You coming?"

"Yeah- wait up" Keith walked towards Lance, his hand touching Lance's as they both pulled the door closed; a warm feeling rose through his chest and a small smile crept onto his face as they both strode down the hallway together.

* * *

Shiro walked the hall with Laura, smiling as he caught sight of Keith and Lance joking together as they walked the hall in the opposite direction.

"Guess they worked things out" He said, smiling at Laura who smiled back.

"Sorry about causing trouble, it was an accident…I wasn't meant to reveal that much" Her head dropped in shame. Shiro placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see his smiling face.

"Don't be, I think you actually helped them…I've been watching them pine over each other for months, I'm glad that they've actually realised their feelings now." Shiro dropped his hand from Laura's shoulder. "I have to get back to work, you should go find something to do until we have more time to talk."

"Yeah, its okay, you're probably really busy" Laura smiled back at Shiro, walking towards her room as he walked to wards the bridge. "See you later!"

"Bye Laura" Shiro waved as they parted down their separate routes.

* * *

"So, you're Keith and Lance's kid huh?" Pidge pushed her glasses up her nose, not looking away from her screen for a second. Laura was stood behind her, studying the plans for her own ship that were displayed in a projection on the table. She had been sitting working with Pidge for a few hours, eating lunch in lab with her.

"Yeah, I am"

"Cool, so how? I mean they're both guys...unless one of them is hiding something from us" Pidge smirked.

"Oh, that" Laura smiled and stifled a laugh. "Y'know Veronica, right? Well she was the surrogate…my mum basically… but I just call her 'V'. It means I'm blood related to both Keith and Lance, though not directly from them both."

"Ah, gotcha" Pidge pressed more keys on her laptop, fingers working 300 miles an hour and moving in a blur. "how'd you get your mark then?"

"My mark?" Laura questioned back at pidge

"Yeah, the Altean marking on your cheek" pidge looked away from the screen, studying Laura's cheek as Laura reached to touch it

"Oh, its exactly the same as what Allura did to Lance, He just transferred half of his Altean bond to me when I was born" She spoke as Pidge turned back to her work, her glasses reflecting the light off the screen. "Do you actually need my help, or did you just want to ask me questions?"

"What? I was inquisitive, its not every day you get to meet someone from the future…"

"Yeah" Laura sighed, getting up "I'm going to look for Hunk, do you want me to bring you back some food?"

"Actually, yeah…could you ask him to get the cookies from the secret stash?" Pidge replied

"The double chocolate ones?"

"Laura, you are cooler than all the guys combined, you sure you're actually related to the bozos out there?" Pidge high fived Laura she walked out the room towards the kitchen.

"To be honest, I'm so happy I didn't inherit their stupidity" She laughed, closing the door on pidge and her work and breathing to cool air of the hall.

* * *

"Need any help?" Laura walked into the kitchen, seeing Hunk working a dough of some kind on the counter.

"Oh, hey Laura, sure! Just wash your hands and you can help with this" He replied, lifting his hands off the counter and adding more flour to the slab of dough. "I didn't realise how much I missed earth food until I started baking, its great to have actual ingredients to bake with again" He smiled as he watched Laura remove the yellow ribbon from her wrist and wash her hands. "What's the ribbon for?...no wait… let me guess… it's to remember me by cause, y'know, _yellow lion and all that" _he flexed his arms, trying to look impressive.

"Partly" Laura smirked, walking to the counter, taking up kneading the dough. "It's actually for _my_ yellow paladin, Abigail"

"Awwwww cute! Did she give it to you? That's adorable."

"Yep, you would like her…well…you do like her, in the future" Laura smiled "She loves your cooking by the way"

"She does?"

"Yep, everyone loves her…she's sweet, kind, lovely and really pretty" Laura blushed, hanging her head.

"Sounds like someone has a crush" Hunk gently elbowed Laura, setting them both into fits of giggles.

"No way, she'd never like me!"

"Are you serious? You're the paladin of the black lion! What could be better than that?"

"I don't know" She blushed further, her cheeks warm and bright red. "Is this about done?" she motioned towards the dough she had been kneading.

"Oh, yeah" Hunk scooped it up and started dividing it. "There's not much to do here now, but you're welcome to stay and chat." Laura nodded and spent the rest of the afternoon talking with Hunk in the kitchen, Atlas crew members passing by and saying hi. Some of them stopped, not recognising Laura, disappointed by the answer that she wasn't allowed to reveal who she was. It was six in the evening by the time Shiro had found her, asleep with her head resting on the counter and her hair falling over her face. Hunk was smiling as Shiro picked her up and took her to her room.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 – Video Games**

**(sorry for not updating sooner, ive been swamped with work recently and have exams starting tomorrow for a couple weeks soooooo BUT! KLANCE KNLANCE KLANCE, some cute stuff and just them and the others together hanging out , these are just snippets but warning you might want to enjoy this now bacause we learn some sad, sad stuff about laura later, sorry not sorry but i had to make her have an eventful life even if she is the daughter of two paladins, some bad stuff has bound to happen to her :(– thanks for enjoying the fic so far! though and i hope that i can update sooner)(Also id just like to add that the kitchen Hunk uses is like a small private break room, different from the kitchen that serves the dining area for the entire ATLAS-They hang out in there a lot, since Shiro is normally busy with being the strong leader he is- oh and pidge is almost always in the lab working on Laura's pod and sometimes Matt joins in and helps, though he isnt seen much around the ship. Basically there'll be some fun stuff happeneing later where they all go out to relax and i wanted to make this chapter happy and fun before Laura gets sad :/ )**

"NO WAY" Lance screamed, throwing the controller onto his bed. Keith was laughing at him.

"That's still one to you and five to me" He said triumphantly, leaning back and flopping onto the mattress. "You wanna go for another round or are you ready to accept defeat?"

Lance reached over and playfully punched Keith in the shoulder reflecting his action and flopping down, sending his pillow onto the floor.  
"Ughhhhh how are you so good at this?" He whined as his eyes followed Keith, who had now stood up and walked over to where Lances pillow had fallen off the bed.

"How are you so bad at this, its literally just moving your fingers" He smiled, picking up Lance's pillow and throwing it at the Cuban's face. Lance sat up, putting the pillow back where it was supposed to be and staring down at Keith who was searching through the pile of games Lances had spread all over the floor.

"How about we just watch a movie now? Y'know… relax."

"Is this you admitting defeat?" Keith turned, he smirked at Lance.

"No! Well, maybe…"

"Fine, we can watch a movie if you want" Keith replied, smiling. Lance had picked a random movie out of his collection and started it going. Both of them settled on Lance's bed, Keith leaning against the pile of pillows and Lance leaning on Keith, his head leaning against his shoulder and Keith's arm around Lance. It was new, and weird, but comforting. it was like they were already used to it...their bodies fitting together and both of them comfortable in their place.

Lance woke up to a black screen. The movie must've finished earlier. He looked to his side and felt the warmth of Keith who was cuddled up next to him, his hair falling all over his face as it hung down with his chin touching his chest. Cute. Lance got up, careful not to disturb him as he streched the uncomfortable kinks out of his neck. Cute, but uncomfortable. He looked at keith, who was still on the bed, and put his jacket over him. He admired the peaceful sleepy version of Keith and left the room, a smile on his face and a slight flutter in his heart.

"Oh Lance, great, I've been looking for you" Shiro's voice echoed throught the hall as he walked up and placed a hand on Lance's shoulder. "Have you seen Keith? I cant find him and I know you two were together last night so I thought I'd ask you"

Lance jammed his thumb over his shoulder, tilting his head. "Asleep" He mentioned quickly, walking off down the direction he was initially going and trying to ignore the knowing smirk he knew would be plastered on Shiro's face.

As he reached the end of the hall he swore he heard Shiro whisper "Way to go Keith, only took you a couple years" and chuckle softly as he walked away from the room.

* * *

He found Hunk in the kitchen, as always, stirring abowl of whatever and chatting with Laura. They both turned to face him ashe walked in, wearing similar warm smiles and Laura patting the chair next to her for him to sit down.

"Morning bed-head, sleep well?" Hunk handed Lance a coffee and rustled his hair as he smiled at Laura. She had bags under her eyes and was yawning every minute or so.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" He nudged Laura's shoulder with his own "You look awful"

"Thanks" She laughed turning to face Hunk

"What'd I miss?" Everyone turned to the door, Keith was leaning against the doorframe and smiling - and wearing Lance's jacket. Lance blushed and turned away, concentrating on his coffee rather than Keith who had stationed himself on the other side of Laura.

"Hey" Laura punched Keith's arms playfully, He looked confused "Matching" She said, grabbing the collar of the jacket draped across herself. It broke him. Lance didn't know how to react as he saw the biggest smile creep across Keith's face.

"Oh no" Laura whispered "We broke him" while smiling herself as Keith burst out laughing, eyes crinkling and almost knocking over the coffee that had been placed in front of him.

"Watch it dude! The counters!" Hunk started laughing too, like it was contagious, roping Lance and Laura into the event as well. It took about a minute for everyone to calm down enough to be able to breath normally again.

"What- what was that?" Lance gasped through shaky breaths.

"Dunno" Keith shrugged "Just found the jacket thing funny.

"I've never seen you laugh like that before, dude" Lance tilted his head fondly at the puzzled look across Keith's face that quickly turned into a smile. He shrugged

"Get used to it"

_Get used to it_

_Get used to it?_

Lance would never get used to an adorable laugh like that. He didn't realise he was staring until Laura was waving her hands above his face.

"Earth to Paps, anyone home?"

"Uh, yeah, what?"

"Wellll I asked if I could borrow hat key card thing-y you have...to get into the gym? Since I'm technically not even supposed to be on this ship, I don't have one"

"Yeah sure" he said, instinctively reaching down towards his pocket and remembering "Keith, key card in my left pocket" Keith didn't even look up from the sip of coffee he was drinking, feeling into the left pocket and fishing out the blue plastic card with 'access all areas' printed on it.

"Thanks" Laura said, darting out of the room and waving back at Hunk as she did.

"Lance 2.0" Hunk chuckled, getting a glare from the real Lance "What? She's a carbon copy- do you guys seriously not see it?" He shakes his head at both Lance and Keith's puzzled expressions "What am I saying? you didn't even notice your crush on Keith for god knows how long, never mind" He started walking towards the door, nudging Lances shoulder as he walked by.

"Hunk wha-wait, dude?" Lance spun his head around as Hunk left the room shrugging.

"We're idiots huh?" Keith laughed into his mug, he had been silent between the whole exchange but always watching Lance...Lance wondered if it had always been like this, Keith admiring him from afar. He sunk back into his seat, relaxing.

"Yeah, we are" he said plopping his head down onto Keith's shoulder. He could feel it tense at first with the unfamiliarity of someone resting there, but he seemed to slowly ease into it, and after a while he sunk further into his seat too.  
They sat there for a while, just drinking coffee in a comfortable silence with each other until Pidge came bounding into the room.

"Guys, Shiro had the best idea-" She began before registering what was going on in front of her, she smiled "!st off" she began, pointing at the two of them "Hunk owes me money, and 2nd off, Shiro had a great idea"

"What?" Lance and Keith both replied, quizzically

"Well, he said its been a while since we all hung out together, and since he's been really busy the last couple days we've been on her it feels as though we are all doing our separate things and not really talking together that much and we all came cause we wanted to catch up right?"

"Pidge, spit it out alreadddyyy" Lance whined at Pidges rambling, Her face lit up

"We're going out tonight"

"What?"

"You heard me, we're landing on a planet not too far from here as a sort of pit stop and for everyone to relax and Shiro wants to get us all together so we can go somewhere" She smiled.

"Like a party?" Lance raised his eyebrow, a glint in is eye that Pidge instantly knew

"Something like that" She smiled, giving a similar look back to Lance.

Keith looked at them, confused. "What are you guys doing, like communicating with your brains or something?"  
Both pidge and Lance snapped out of it, Pidge finally realising that Keith-in fact- was there.

"Oh yeah, sorry- But Shiro will tell you the full plan later at dinner, there's just one thing."

"This sounds like its going to be bad" Keith groaned, Lance's jacket slipping a bit from his shoulder before he brought it back around his neck.

"Not necessarily, buuuut Shiro says we cant leave Laura on the ship and we cant risk her being taken care of by anyone else because if she slips stuff about the future or people find out who she is it could be chaos"

So?" Lance questioned, even though he probably already knew the answer.

"So- Shiro wants to take her with us and you and I have to be responsible for her, don't we?" Keith answered

"Bingo" Pidge replied, an amused glint in her eyes

"Awwwww come on" Lance flopped backwards, letting his head fall to the seat, and ended up resting on Keith's leg.

"Your kid, your problem" Pidge replied, shrugging and smiling. this was clearly very funny to her.

"All right" Keith spoke up from above Lance "Our responsibility, got it" He stood up and held out a hand for Lance to grab and get up too "Thanks Pidge"

"No problem lover boys" She smirked, leaving the room with a mischievous skip in her step.

* * *

"Nice!" Laura jumped up from her bed after Keith had told her what had been confirmed between them and Shiro a little earlier- that she was coming with them, off the ship and onto a planet none of them had really visited before.

"Hold on there, kid" Keith caught himself before 'kiddo' had slipped out  
_I'm turning into Shiro _he thought.

"Just wait a sec- lets establish some ground rules" Laura groaned, reminding Keith of Lance when he didn't get his way, "Even though we're not on Earth we're still using rules from Earth, first one being no drinking anything alcoholic for any of the under 18s"

"Whaaaaaat?" Laura moaned, before mumbling under her breath "Thought dad was gonna be more fun when he was younger" which got Lance a sharp glare from Keith for laughing into his hand.

"Pidge is following the same rule- so don't think your alone with this" he remarked before getting a comment from Pidge who was passing by the door

"It's a stupid rule! That's what it is...Don't worry Laur' we'll find something to do"

"Thanks Pidge!" came from Laura, who had begun to smile and get more excited.

"Nope, nu-uh" Lance pushed in front of Keith and was bending down to Laura's level

"We" he motioned to him and Keith "are responsible for you, so no running off with the gremlin over there"

"Hey!" Pidge huffed from the hall.

"Sorry Pidge-y but you're a gremlin and we all know it"

"Okay, okay I get it...no drinks or running off. Can I get ready now?" Laura pleaded, making puppy dog eyes that Keith realised where way to close to Lance's for him to refuse.

"Fine" He spoke up, bring Lance back up to his level and tugging him out the door "Ten minutes" He sighed, breathing in sharply soon after as he felt the tight hug of Laura around his waist. He smiled again before prying himself away.

* * *

The Paladins had been at a bar-like building for almost three hours now, enjoying each others company and catching up on what each other had done in the three months they'd been apart. To them it seemed much-much longer and they were happy to all be together, hanging out like they used to while knocking back a few drinks at the same time. Alothough Pidge was very much included in the conversation, she looked as bored as Laura, both of them sitting at the edge of the table.

"Hey Laur' " Pidge whispered, nudging Lauras knee under the table. She had that mischevious glint in her eye again. Laura snapped out of her boredom-induced daydreaming. "Follow my lead, lets have some fun" She said, smirking.

"Hey Shiro" Pidge spoke up, interupting Keith's drabble of what the BOM have been doing since the conversion to humanitarian aid "Laura and I are going to the bathroom a sec" Shiro nodded from across the table, getting back into the discussion he and the others were disrupted from. "I do this all the time, they fall for it fully every time" Pidge mentioned, guiding Laura towards the 'bar'.

"Hey Pidge, what're you-"

"Shhhh" Pidge whispered, bringing up a virtual ID from her wrist display. Laura watched as she changed her birthday on the hologram in front of her "This planet's rules say you have to be 18 to get your hands on anything that would intoxicate you, exactly why Shiro brought us here" she shrugged "he knew we wouldn't be able to get anything even if we wanted to" She chuckled lightly as the birth-date on the holo-ID had changed, stating she was now 19. "Official ID's" Pidge spoke quietly "They got special scanners everywhere now, checking if they're authentic" She followed as Pidge leaned over the counter and ordered something through a screen embedded in it, scanning the ID projected from her wrist. "but it doesn't take a genius to work out how to bypass it" she smiled at Laura as the scanner flashed green and a drink was raised from underneath the countertop.

"That's amazing!" Laura exclaimed, admiring how Pidge had now gotten herself a drink and, most importantly, broken Shiro's rule without fearing for her very life.

"Want anything?" Pidge asked

"I'm starting to prefer you over my actual parents, adopt me?" She joked laughing as Pidge nodded towards the screen.  
Half an hour later Pidge returned to the table, a couple drinks down her and feeling great.

"Pidge?" She heard Keith ask.

"Mhm?" She mumbled, settling into her seat

"You've been gone for ag- where's Laura?" He looked around. Pidge then realised that she had no idea. Oh no she thought, as they looked around the room.

"Found her" Hunk spoke up, looking towards a corner. "Uhhhh Keith, this may need your attention buddy" Keith stood up, looking in the direction Hunk was staring. Laura was in the corner, looking uncomfortably at the boy who had trapped her in. Keith's brow furrowed, Lance could see the anger building in his eyes. He was getting out of his seat just as Lance saw Hunk visibly relax and then laugh to himself. "Never mind, she's got it handled" He said, sitting back down as the others looked over to the corner. Laura stood there, rubbing her fist above a hunched over boy, blood obviously dripping from his face and a smirk finding its way up Laura's.

"Hey, sorry for taking so long...I got caught up" Laura sat back down next Pidge, who had high-fived her under the table. Her knuckles were visibly red but she looked fine, proud-even.

"I said no drinking for the under 18s" Shiro was staring daggers into Pidge and it sent chills down Laura's spine.

"No drinking going on here Shiro" she said, almost too convincingly for someone who had been giggling uncontrollably just minutes before. She smiled at Laura, who had shrunk into her own seat under the glare of Keith which was one more of concern than anger. He looked like he was about to say something as Lance jumped in.

"You ok? You punched him pretty hard back there and your knuckles are red"

"I'm good" she smiled "What time is it?" she changed the subject.

"Late" Shiro answered, now looking more relaxed than a few seconds earlier. "We should head back"  
And with that, everyone except Keith and Lance were making their way back onto the ship; chatting as they went.

"Wanna go for a walk?" Keith asked Lance, holding out his hand as he got up. Lance took it eagerly. He didn't let go of it, not even as they were making their way out into the darkness of the night outside.

**(Sorry for bad formatting, my stuff has been messed up thanks to word dying on me and editing this on wordpad, ****_god help me) _**


	9. Hiatus

Sorry guys- no chapter this week..

I Know, I Know! I'm sorry! I've been swamped with work and exams this weeks and will be for the next week too, i promise when i get down to writing i will publish 3 chapters together so you guys can have a well deserved binge.

Thanks for waiting for me! Apologies for my absence, but i will be back! Just gimme a little time..


End file.
